Lettering guide for stenciling operations



1952 A. l. ROSHKIND 2,585,847

LETTERING GUIDE FOR STENCILING OPERATIONS Filed DEC. 20, 1948 I! Ka il; 2& n l q s @n u W L W a5 LLWEF J K, L'H Ml i M a /Z Patented Feb. 12, 1952 LETTERING GUIDE FOR STENCILING OPERATIONS Allan I. Roshkind, Chicago, 111., assignor to A. B. Dick Company, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Application December 20, 1948, Serial No. 66,296

3 Claims.

This invention relates to lettering guides and especially to a lettering guide having many desirable characteristics when used with a stylus or other writing instrument for stencilling operations.

Following the practice of the mechanical drawing art, lettering guides for stencilling operations are manufactured of relatively thin flexible plates of transparent material, such as plastics or the like. The letter openings in preferred design are stamped or cut out of the plates as by a pantographic cutting device.

The described methods of manufacture provide for walls defining the letter openings, which are perpendicular to the faces. Under such conditions, best practice dictates the use of plates having thin wall sections, usually less than 3 2 of an inch, to minimize the tendency of the writing instrument or stylus to bind in the letter opening. Incidentally, certain manufacturing economies may be practiced because such thin sections permit simultaneous preparation of several stacked plates.

.Lettering guides formed of such thin plates have the objectionable characteristic of insufiicient rigidity to resist lifting from the writing surface responsive to the sidewise forces exerted by the stylus or other writing instrument. Other objectionable features of conventional lettering guides reside in the lack of sufficient dimensional thickness to militate against slippage under objects by which it is held in position of use and to impart suflicient structural stability to support the guide in close proximity to the work without the application of finger pressure to minimize or to prevent inadvertent movement.

It is an object of this invention to produce a lettering guide which has little tendency to lift from the writing surface on reaction with the sidewise forces exerted as an incidence to normal use.

Another object is to produce a lettering guide having letter openings designed to permit the use of a lettering guide of substantial thickness without having the tendency to bind the stylus or other writing instrument in normal operation.

A further object is to produce a lettering guide for stencilling operations having letter openings constructed to increase contact pressure between the guide and the writing surface responsive to forces exerted during normal operation.

A still further object is to produce a lettering guide of relatively thick cross-section having tapered walls defining the letter openings to provide operating characteristics which overcome the 2 .i objections raised to lettering guides heretofore used.

.These and other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter appear and for purposes of illustration, but not of limitation, :an embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 is a top plan view of a lettering guide embodying features of my invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective sectional view of the lettering guide shown in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a still further enlargement accenting the structural and dimensional features embodied in a lettering guide of my invention.

To overcome the objections raised to lettering guides heretofore used, I have produced a lettering guide formed of relatively thick transparent material having a relatively high draft or taper defining the side walls of thecut-out portions or letter openings. Thus, by reaction of the sidewise forces exerted by the stylus or other writing instrument incident to normal operation, instead of binding in the letter openings and instead of lifting the guide from the surface of the work, the stylus freely'moves through the openingand the reaction forces between the stylus and the tapered side walls create a downward pressure which holds the guide against the writing surface.

As shown in the drawing, the lettering guide consists of a plurality of letter openings l0 arranged in a desired fashion in a rectangularly shaped flat plate II. From a comparative standpoint, the plate II is of considerably greater thickness than that heretofore used in lettering guides, having a cross-sectional dimension of 0.050 inch or more. To minimize or entirely to prevent the tendency of the stylus l2 or other writing instrument to bind as it is moved through the openings between the walls l3 and M, the walls are tapered from top to bottom, as shown.

Important are the force reactions incident to the operation of the stylus or other writing instrument in the letter openings having tapered walls. Briefly described, contact between the stylus or other writing instrument during movement through the letter openings results in contact of one or more portions of the stylus with the tapered wall with the result that the normal sidewise forces exerted during stencilling or writing operations are converted into lateral and vertical components, the latter of which serves beneficially to increase contact pressure between the guide H and the writing surface I5. Thus, there is eliminated the possibility of the guide H lifting from the surface of the work l5. The need for following the stencil closely to anchor the guide to the writing surface in the near vicinity of operation is eliminated and, incidentally, greater dimensional thickness is permitted in the lettering plate to accommodate various types of writing instruments and shaped stylii while at the same time minimizing slippage relative to the aligning elements.

For best results, the span between the side walls of the letter openings is selected to be slightly greater than the adjacent portions of the writing instrument operating therein to limit play or possible strain movements, but it should not be so narrow as to simultaneouslygrip the writing instrument from both sides. A taper of 25-20 degrees in the side walls may be used, but best results are secured with about a degree taper. As shown in the drawing, such tapered letter openings provide the desired reaction when used in combination with a bluntnosed writing instrun'ient or stylus having a flared out end portion so as to permit engagementor said flared out endt'portion with one wall defining the opening While being spaced a short distance from the other wall during use.

'A flattering-guide having the desired charcteristics of taper and dimension in the letter openingsmay be readily manufactured of transparent plastic materials by conventional molding processes of the type commonly referred to as compression, injection, or extrusion molding, or by casting or machining. Suitable plastic materials may includethe transparent resinous compositions of the type polystyrene, polyacrylates, cellulose ethers, cellulose 'esters, or they may include in addition to these materials commonly referred to asthe phenolics, ureas, and polyesters with and without fillers, coloring agents, plasticizers, and the like.

'It w-ill'be apparent from the description that I have produced a new and improved lettering guide having-aconstruction which-imparts the characteristics desired during normal stencilling operations in that the writing instrument may be operated therein without binding-and forces are generated, as an incidence to normal operation, which increases contact pressure between the guide and the writing surface, and which enables the use of a guide having sufficient thickness to prevent slippage and inadvertent movement with respect to aligning members.

It will be understoodth'at numerous changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement without departing from the spirit "of my invention, especially as defined in the following claims.

I claim as my invention:

'1. In combination, a stylus having a writing end and a flared out portion immediately adj'acent the writing end and a lettering guide comprising a plate member having lettering openings definedby walls which taper toward each other from the top side of the plate to the bottom side whereby a flared out portion of the stylus operatively engages an intermediate portion of a tapered "wall when the stylus is in writing position.

=2. The lettering guide as claimed in claim 1-, wherein the taper of the walls'defining the letter openings therethrough is greater than 2.5 degrees and less than 20 degrees.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 1 in which the distance between the writing end and the end of the flared out portion of the stylus is less thanthe thickness of the plate member.

ALLANI. ROSHKIND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

